Broadway Stands Up for Freedom!

Broadway Stands Up for Freedom!, a benefit concert to
support the youth programs of the New York Civil Liberties Union, returns for
its 6th stunning year on Monday, July 21 at 7:30PM in the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 La
Guardia Place, Washington Square South).

Broadway Stands for Freedom! focuses the spotlight on the NYCLU's
dedication to reproductive rights and other civil liberties issues relevant to
young people.

Eugene Lovendusky:
Thanks so much, all of you, for comig down on a Monday evening to chat with
BroadwayWorld. And it's such a privilege to have you in the room, Donna.
Another Broadway Stands Up for Freedom! concert is right around the corner  you
excited?

Todd Buonopane: I
think we're excited that it just gets bigger and bigger. Celia, Danny and I have been involved for
three years

Eugene:Broadway Stands For Freedom! may be
an evening of singing and art in its highest form. But it is also a benefit for a very important (but also a somewhat controversial) organization. Paint us a better picture of
what NYCLU does

Donna: The big
stuff NYCLU is taking-on now involves American people's personal liberties, equal
opportunity and privacy. Access to education is huge; over-policing of our
schools; racial profiling by police. Then of course we fight against
warrantless wire-tapping, habeus corpus, reproductive rights, same-sex
marriage. We have our hands in all of that.
I never thought I'd hear myself say it, but we're "the law and order
guys."

Todd: The California case that won
gay marriage is an ACLU thing, right?

Donna: In New York, we still don't
recognize all the marriages that we should. But the NYCLU brought a law-suit to
win the right of people who get married in another state or country, to have
that marriage recognized here in New
York. As a result of that case, Governor Patterson
recently issued a mandate to all state agencies instructing them to come-up
with whatever regulations they need to, to recognize same-sex marriages from
other states. It was a courageous thing for him, because he didn't have to do
it.

Todd: It's
important for our BroadwayWorld readers to know how the NYCLU is directly
affecting their lives.

Eugene: Thanks for your hard-work. How does Broadway Stands For Freedom! serve
as a platform for NYCLU's message?

Daniel Goldstein:
The point of the concert is not necessarily to get a message out but more to
raise awareness of the NYCLU.

Celia Keenan-Bolger:
When you're isolated in the theatre community as an actor, you have causes that
are very important to you  certainly the Actor's Fund and Broadway Cares are
the two major forces that the New
York theatre community does a lot of benefits for. There's so much happening in New York, it can be
difficult to get involved. Todd and I were interested in broadening the scope
for our fellow actors and what else we can support. Particularly, there's such a huge population
of homosexuals in the theatre community

Todd: Really...?

Donna: There are
homosexuals here?

Celia: I know, I
didn't really want to bring it up But there are! [laughs] I felt like the
Civil Liberties Union is an organization that is constantly fighting for their
rights. Some actors don't know about the
organization. It's a place that's not
necessarily on their radar.

Daniel: The
message of the benefit is simply that the ACLU and NYCLU exist  and these are
some of the things they cover. The main
focus of the concert is for the Teen Youth Initiative. We also put into the
show two contributors from the NYCLU Student Expression Contest, which are ways
that students express themes that have to do with their efforts  and we get
really fancy actors to read them at the event.

Eugene: These are kids who heard about the
contest, wrote a poem or story, and submitted them to the NYCLU ?

Donna: The
contest is kind of new. We get a couple hundred applicants a year, but it's
growing. Some of the applicants are
pretty amazing. It's an opportunity for young people to have their voices
heard. I remember last year, one of the kids wrote a poem about how school is
failing him and he feels like he is going to be cannon-fodder. And it was read
by Denis O'Hare. It was incredible  actors can do amazing things with the
words they're giving  but also for this kid. This kid from a New York public school tried his hand at
writing poetry and look what happened! It's fabulous.

Todd: Going back
to what Celia was saying earlier; Celia and I went to school together, and we
soon realized that a lot of our actor friends didn't vote. I think it's fair to say that a lot of actors
have similar political views  given the number of gays and liberal-minded
artists. But these people didn't vote! You will never find a more generous person
than an actor in the New York
theatre community. People give of their time so willingly for benefits like
Broadway Cares; staying-up late counting and collecting money after 8 shows a
week But this concert gives them a chance to actually get political and to
really stand-up for something

Jen: Because
we're so involved in the theatre community, it can sometimes become kind of a
bubble. Some of us can lose-touch with
the rest of the world. I think everybody's eager to have something else to sink
their teeth into and to fight for something that feels really meaningful.

Celia: That's the
amazing thing about this concert. All of
the people from the Civil Liberties Union are appreciating it as a night of
great performers. And the people from
the Broadway community are coming to learn about an organization they didn't
necessarily know about. Everybody is
getting something out of it.

Jen: There are so
many benefits on Monday nights! And often, I go to benefits where the charity
is pushed to the back, I have to be reminded who we're doing this for. With "Broadway Stands For Freedom"  because
of the essays and the presenters we've assembled  the organization is at the
forefront of this concert and what we're doing.

Donna: I was
particularly touched after I sent a totally-blind letter to Stephen Sondheim,
and he emailed me back to say he'd love to be associated with this. The civil liberties and the arts are really
natural allies. When you push the
envelope, there's going to be a time when you need the Civil Liberties
Union. The CLU has come to the defense
of artists on numerous occasions to protect their right to say what they have
to say. Whether its freedom from censorship or a sensation art-show.

Eugene: Look at that production of Ragtime in Indiana

Donna: Talk to
the guys who do these shows on tour! I was stunned to learn that they censor
their shows for certain audiences in certain geographies because they're worried
about getting picketed.

Eugene: Theatre is often the first vehicle of
mainstream media to touch on something important. West Side Story:
Interracial romance. Falsettos: The
AIDS crisis. Theatre is always first! This benefit focuses on youth. Why is it
important to be defending young people's rights?

Todd: I went to
theatre camp growing-up. At the age of 11, I was given a voice and told that
what I had to say was important. So many kids are told that they are supposed
to be seen and not heard

Donna: We talk
around the office so often that this generation of kids is being raised to be
desensitized to their rights. In order
to go to school, they have to open their backpacks, take off their belts, take
off their jackets, get wanded up and down  as adolescents when they're already
worried about their own bodies. Their expectation to privacy is totally shot to
hell. It's important to us that these
kids know they are the future for freedom in our country. We can't afford to let what's happening in
our country and cities to go unchallenged. We are there to empower them and to
help them understand that they have rights and we're there to defend them.

Jen: What's
exciting about this generation is that they can start a blog. They've got all
these resources to express themselves that they haven't had in the past. The
kids that most need to express themselves need to be told that these are the
people that can help you to do it. They do have a voice  probably more-so than
any other generation before them.

Eugene:Broadway Stands Up for Freedom! was
started by members of that very generation, correct?

Donna: Liana
Stampur, my daughter, started this benefit six years ago. It was actually her
high-school graduation present. She filled Danny's Skylight room and with her
soccer friends and parents and kids from school and family. We must have raised
about $3,000. We were so thrilled. She recruited Erich Bergen, who is now in Jersey Boys tour; and Dana Steingold,
who is now in Godspell. They all knew each other from Stage Door.

Daniel: I know
Todd from Stage Door

Donna: and there
was a Stage Door reunion a few years ago

Daniel: where
Todd and I sang a song together (I hit a G)

Todd: and that's
where I met Donna and Liana

Donna: and Liana
connected us all together. That is when the show moved to another level; where
we moved it to bigger theatres in Symphony Space. It was so cool. Now we're at
Skirball. It feels so grand and we have top people! Last year, I think the
greatest surprise of all was when [title
of show] did a piece that nobody knew was coming

Todd: Susan
Blackwell and Hunter Bell wrote this piece about their first Broadway shows.
Susan talked about Angels in America
and Hunter talked about Annie. And
they even mentioned NYCLU  there was not a dry-eye in the house.

Daniel: and the
entire cast of Godspell. It will be
our first public performance  and actually on our first day of rehearsal! I
think we'll be singing "All Good Gifts" because Telly can sing the shit out of
it.

Donna: And of
course we have Tony Kushner, who gives his opening speech each year. It's worth
the price of admission. After last year's show, a number of people came-up to
me and said: "This is not just as good as a Broadway show. This is better."
People just love it.

Eugene: Great line-up, great songs. You'll
have a very nice house full of people who want to see these performers.
Hopefully at the end of the night, they'll want to know more about NYCLU. How can people  young and old  get
involved?

Donna: Oh, so
happy you asked! The easiest way is to visit NYCLU.org;
the website is chock-full of the issues we're working on, which change from day
to day.

Jen: There's a
Facebook page for the event.

Donna: There are
student tickets for $12, and regular admission is $60 and $100. Anybody who wants to come should be able
to. I don't want to see an empty seat or
a dry-eye in the house!

Broadway Stands Up for Freedom!: Benefit Concert for the New York Civil Liberties Union -- Monday, July 21 at 7:30PM in the NYC Skirball Center (566 La
Guardia Place, Washington Square South).

NYCLU has evaluated scores of entries  poetry, artwork,
music and essays  that young people have submitted to the organization's
annual Student Expression contest. The winning entries will be read and/or
performed by special guests throughout the performance.

The New York Civil Liberties Union is one of the nation's
foremost defenders of civil liberties and civil rights. Founded in 1951 as the New York affiliate of
the American Civil Liberties Union, the NYCLU is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan
organization with eight offices across the state and nearly 50,000 members. The NYCLU's mission is to defend and promote the fundamental
principles and values embodied in the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution,
and the New York Constitution, including freedom of speech and religion, and
the right to privacy, equality and due process of law for all New Yorkers. For more information about the NYCLU, visit NYCLU.org.

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About Author

Eugene Lovendusky graduated summa cum laude from SFSU with a BA in Writing for Electronic Media and a minor in Drama. Raised in the SF Bay Area, his love for the arts bloomed at an early-age; a passion that has flourished in NYC, where Eugene now lives and works. He is a proud member of the New York City Gay Mens' Chorus.